


Duplicity

by badboy_fangirl



Category: Real Person Fiction, Vampire Diaries RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 04:58:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10678173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badboy_fangirl/pseuds/badboy_fangirl
Summary: It's not like they start out planning to play everybody.





	Duplicity

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: Every story I wrote about NIan was written between December 2010 and January 2014. These are old and hold no bearing on how things actually were, are, or will be. I know Ian is married now, and I am not trying to be disrespectful. For all these years, I kept these stories locked on LiveJournal and protected, and it just occurred to me that these are just stories, and these are as much characters as any of the other fanfic I've ever written. It also represents a lot of my creative time and energy and I'm proud of these stories. So I'm posting them now, with the intent that others might enjoy them.

It's not like they start out planning to play everybody.  
  
They're not sitting in Nina's dressing room, putting their clothes back on after they've consummated their relationship, exchanging evil grins, and thinking,  _let's mess with these fuckers._  
  
No, it's not intentional, really it's not.  
  
(Of course, no one would ever believe that.)  
  
  
  
  
  
Nina is emphatic: "I didn't even want to look sideways at a co-worker, much less fall head over heels, so pinky swear--" She holds up her own pinky, but he's distracted by her breasts, and so he misses it the first two times he tries to hook his own through hers. "We tell no one.  _No one._ "  
  
Ian is whipped good and proper so he makes a grandiose promise as he leans down and flicks his tongue over her nipple.  
  
(It's a huge relief when she comes to him a week later and says, "Okay, I told Candice." Yeah, because he told Paul and Matt, as well as his entire family.)  
  
  
  
  
  
As soon as photos surface on the internet of them in public together during the hiatus, tongues start wagging. His agent calls to confirm that he's making no statement, because the queries are coming in everyday now.  
  
Ian has never been asked about his love life before--at least not in specific terms. Certainly he's been hit on by interviewers (job hazard), but he is a merciless flirt, so he's never claimed innocence in those moments. He just always kisses hands or cheeks and does his best to make the ladies feel like if it wouldn't look terribly unprofessional on his part, of course he'd take them to dinner and then drag them back to his immaculate man cave and fuck their brains out.  
  
It's a fantasy, and he gets it. To be the object of affection is the point if you want to be successful in this business. He'd watched Foxy field it, not to mention Josh, during the early days of  _LOST_  and he always knew that's what had to happen if he wanted to get to the level where he got to call the shots. And he absolutely wanted to get there, so it helped that his personality naturally lent to that end.  
  
Vampires are hot nowadays; getting paid to be one is a stellar job. Getting paid to work with Nina Dobrev and "fall in love" with her on screen is amazingly easy since he fell in love with her off screen very quickly. She's ambitious, and she's got rules for herself, and he respects that, he really does. He would have endured a never-satiated hard-on for her throughout the series if that's the way she'd wanted it.  
  
But it was only what she  _said_  she wanted, and it took a while but eventually what she really wants overtakes her self-imposed code of ethics.  
  
So they start dating, and he's proud to have her on his arm. But he never intended to talk about specifics, and she doesn't want to tell people, so he perpetuates that "married to his work" schtick as long as humanly possible.  
  
It's Nina who gives the cagey  _You Know I'm Not Going To Answer That_  answer in an interview and from then on, every time either of them sits down with anyone, the question is asked.  _Are you dating your co-star? There are rumors that life is imitating art and that you and Nina are an item. Any truth to that?_  He's pretty sure that's what puts a fire under the paparazzi, because they start seeing them more and more often, in airports, in crowds, on the street.  
  
The show is doing really well, and it's to be expected. They tacitly agree not to talk about it with anyone, and they know when supposition by the interviewer makes it into an article because they've never confirmed anything with anyone. There is the occasional co-worker flub, though, like Malese telling people they're adorable together, or Kat explaining that she's Team Nina and Ian.  
  
Then there's Coachella. And Nina saying, "Fuck it, I'm not walking around all day not touching you."  
  
Ian grins, but sighs with relief.  
  
After that, they still don't talk about it publicly, but they don't do anything to prevent the obvious conclusions that are drawn.  
  
That's when it really begins.  
  
  
  
  
  
He supposes, when he looks back, it was his idea. Sure it was her idea originally to keep it on the down low, but that was just a general _I don't fuck my co-stars_  rule that got tossed out the window when she wanted to fuck him.   
  
(In the beginning Nina would never call it fucking. He did that to her, got her to go places she'd never gone before, feel things she'd never felt before, experience something more profound than  _dating_. Or, at least, that's what he thought was going on. He was 32 (then 33, then 34) years old and had had several long term relationships, but none of them had ever been like this, so his assumption that she too was experiencing the most pivotal connection to another human being ever, while untrue, wasn't entirely stupid, was it?)  
  
Maybe it was underlying insecurity that led him to suggest that they always just  _smile and nod_  about those things. Nina picked up on it immediately, and they ran with it. So often they were asked, and they could respond to things without ever actually confirming or denying anything.   
  
(At the Emmys:  _Interviewer: He makes you giddy? Nina: (giggles) Yes._ )  
  
(At Paley Fest:  _Ian: Like all the women in my life. *looks pointedly at Nina, who blushes charmingly*_ )  
  
It created a frenzy among people who just wanted to know:  _Are you guys dating, or not?_  
  
It amused him a lot, until it stopped being funny. Until she broke up with him. Until he realized that once it was over, she didn't mind answering questions about it.  
  
They hadn't made an agreement about that part. They had, of course, discussed what might happen if they ever broke up. They couldn't feasibly work together without considering it, or having a game plan, and their ground rules were pretty simple: they just reverted to how things had been in the early days when they had been good friends. It wasn't as hard as one might think, because Nina really was his best friend, and they spent as much time talking as they ever had anything else. They supported each other in their endeavors outside of  _The Vampire Diaries_  and nothing really changed on that level.  
  
He had it all squared away, compartmentalized in his head in a perfect way.  
  
(He just never thought they would break up, and he sure as hell didn't think it would stick when it did happen.)  
  
  
  
  
  
He's in his head too much, so the summer of 2013, that proves to be chock full of places, people, things, filming, etc. is just what he needs.   
  
He convinces everyone that he's fine, but Robyn knows the truth, and Bob suspects, and he just can't talk about it with anyone, so he doesn't.  
  
(He gets a taste of how "fans" won't like when he and Nina start dating other people, but that's kinda okay because he isn't going to like it much himself.)  
  
The most important thing is that Nina is happy. And he can see that she is. Not that she was unhappy before, but there was something missing for her. He poo-pooed the age thing to anyone who brought it up to him for three years, but really, it was an issue. Not because Nina was immature, but because with age came a certain feeling, a space you thought you should fill, your life naturally curved into what was supposed to be happening.  
  
He's not having kids, he's having puppies, but you know, in some way it showed him exactly what he was missing out on.   
  
He just needs to find a girl to have babies with who isn't 24. And he tries, he really does. He's never been a monk, and he meets a few in Russia and England, but nobody that compares. He tells himself it's just too soon. And it is.  
  
Six months later, he's still telling himself that. Some days he even believes it.  
  
(More importantly, Nina totally buys it. They are good, they are perfect.)  
  
They are nominated for Best On-screen Chemistry with the PCAs, and Ian spends the time when he's not promoting things like the trained monkey he's become thinking,  _fuck my life, no really, FUCK MY LIFE._  
  
But then they win, because this is what he does. He can charm the world, he can never have a moment of downtime, he can work because he doesn't want to think about it, and he can get everyone on Twitter to vote a bajillion times. He can watch the show he's worked so hard on, the character he's put his heart and soul into, still be as popular and relevant now as it was when it was new, and he can take a lot of pride in knowing that if there's a movement for stuff like that, the movement for ISF can be just as powerful, and obviously much more meaningful.  
  
And Nina can be happy, dating whoever she's dating (she doesn't ever confirm anything to him now, either), leaving him guessing as to what is going on, and he now feels like the rest of the world must, just completely mind fucked, because she looks at him with that smile, and he goes right back to the place he lived in for three years, the place that found him settled, yoked equally with someone he knew he could devote his entire life to, and he just has to let it be.  
  
She arrives in a whirlwind from Australia, bussing his cheek with her lips as she and Riawna literally pull off magic at the fitting, finding him a tie that matches Nina's dress. He feels happy to just be in her presence, to take in her energy. She babbles on all about seeing Nate and catches him up on the other people they both know that she saw while she was there, and he listens quietly, grateful to have her taking up the space that only she can fill.  
  
When she turns to him with some thoughts about what they should say during their acceptance speech, he just nods and smiles.  
  
"It's perfect," he says as she stands in front of the mirror, checking out the back of her hairdo as Riawna holds up a second mirror.   
  
"That's what I thought," she says, glancing at him. "Just be honest, right? I mean, it's not like everyone doesn't know anyway."  
  
He meant her dress, not the speech script.  
  
It doesn't matter.  
  
  
  
  
  
He actually has a good time; the whole thing isn't as unbearable as one might expect. He gets to talk to friends and associates he hasn't seen in months, some in years. (Josh cut his hair, and he almost didn't recognize him.)   
  
It certainly helps that minutes after their bit airs, the social media world clamors for their reunion.  
  
(He'd be lying if he said that was ever a part of his grand plan when all this started, but it's not a bad side affect. The world can say what he's not allowed to.)  
  
Nina snuggles against him in the car on the way to Kevin's. She's had a couple glasses of wine, and she's feeling real good, and he doesn't mind at all.  
  
"Ten minutes," she says, flashing her phone at him. "I've been 25 for ten minutes."  
  
"Happy birthday, babe," he murmurs, pressing his lips into her hair. He didn't buy her a gift this year, not really, though he arranged for cake to be delivered to Kevin's since he knew they would be heading there after the party. Julianne's there, and Julie too, and he told Kevin not to tell her that he paid for the cake. It's just less worrisome that way.  
  
Chemistry is something that they'll always have, he supposes. She'll always be his friend; he's actually quite good about being friends with exes anyway. It's his thing.  _I'll always love you_ , she'd said tearfully, holding his hands in hers as she confessed that she just needed to be on her own. That had been eight months ago; and honestly they were as close as they'd ever been, minus the sex, of course.  
  
The next day at the airport, he's checking his bag when a photog surprises him, coming out of nowhere. The guy doesn't even try to take a picture, but asks, "C'mon, man, are you and Nina dating?"  
  
Ian just smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written directly after they won Best Chemistry at the People's Choice Awards. It was my last NIan fic.


End file.
